Before I could finish my sentence, he’d opened a door—to what had once been a cloak closet outside the ballroom but had been converted to store medical supplies—and pushed me inside, making me drop my flashlight in the process. He closed the door behind us and I had two sudden thoughts: He’d had onions for dinner, and the space was too small for him to do much of anything.
I tried to turn to the side but managed only to elbow him slightly in his soft abdomen. “I’m sorry,” I said. “But this is quite unnecessary . . .”
“You’ve been avoiding me, Kate.” I’d always liked the sound of my name. Until now.
“I haven’t been avoiding you. I’ve just been incredibly busy, as you are aware.”
“You haven’t accepted my invitations to dinner.” He sounded genuinely hurt. As if he really believed that the two of us had a future together.
“We are overloaded with patients right now, and I need my sleep so I can be the best doctor they need me to be. I really don’t have time for leisurely dinners, as lovely as they sound.”
He was my height, so that when he smiled his sparse mustache tickled my ear. I found myself almost hoping that a bomb would actually fall nearby just so I’d have a reason to get out of this closet.
I felt his fingers playing with my hair. “I hope you understand that it’s in your best interests to make me happy. I don’t think dinner with me would be so hard for you to manage.”
Damn. It wasn’t fair. Nothing about being a woman was fair, especially not a woman whose only dream was to be a good doctor. But none of that would matter if I didn’t give Dr. Greeley what he wanted. “I’ll check my schedule. I’m sure I can find an hour.”
“Or two,” he said.
I kept my head turned to the side so when he tried to kiss me, he got only my cheek.
Reaching behind him, I grabbed the doorknob and twisted it, but his hand on mine stopped me. “Before you go, I just wanted to let you know that I’ve received word that we are scheduled to be getting more patients. You’re going to have to make room for two more beds up in the attic. No more private quarters for Captain Ravenel, and you’ll have to make other permanent arrangements for yourself.”
The siren stopped, lending an uneasy stillness to the air. I turned the knob hard and pushed the doctor, making him stumble backward. I grabbed hold of his upper arms to make it look like it had been an accident. “Sorry, Doctor. I’ll get started on that first thing in the morning.” I picked up my flashlight and began jogging up the flight of circular stairs, not really sure where I was going, just that I needed to get away.
He recovered quickly and called me back again. I paused, looking past the banister at him, and hoped he knew I could see his bald spot from my elevated position on the stairwell. “We’re short staffed tonight. Another nurse has defected to the WAVES. I’m afraid I’m going to need you to empty all the bedpans in the main ward.”
I knew that to argue, to remind him that I was a medical doctor, same as he was, would do no good and would only set me up for even more “selective” duties. I took a slow step down.
“And when Caroline Middleton arrives in the morning, I want you to make yourself available to her. She has all sorts of questions about New York—where to shop and where to eat; women things—and I told her you’d be happy to answer any of her questions.”
I smiled, even though I had the flashing visual of him tumbling over the banister. “Yes, Doctor.” I flipped on lights as I made my way to the main ward. Nurse Hathaway was still there, holding the hand of a patient and humming softly. I nodded in her direction, then began checking bedpans.
“We already took care of it, Dr. Schuyler.” The orderly I’d seen with Nurse Hathaway was at the far wall turning on the overhead lights. As if noticing them for the first time, I saw how ugly the fixtures were, how out of place against the rich wood paneling and elaborately molded ceilings. They were an abomination, I thought, glad the architect of this masterpiece wasn’t around to see the desecration.
“Thank you,” I said, nodding to him and then the nurse. I looked down at my watch, pinned to the front of my lab coat, and realized that it was almost six o’clock. Since I was due for rounds at seven, it made no sense to toss and turn for such a short time before reporting back to work. At least I had time to wash and change clothes.